Salt Lake City, UT asked in Contracts, Probate and Banking for Utah

Q: If a child gets a cd in her name, she's the only beneficiary, her grandfather was the trustee, can anyone else get the $

The child and grand father are the only names on the acct. The grandfather opened it in her name when she was a baby after the childs father passed away. The grandfather passes and the only 2 names ever on the acct are the child and the grandfather. Can the grandmother pull out the money without the grand daughter allowing it if the child hasn't reached the age of fruition

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1 Lawyer Answer
Wesley Winsor
PREMIUM
Wesley Winsor
Answered
  • Probate Lawyer
  • Saint George, UT
  • Licensed in Utah

A: This depends on the ownerhip of the account. If they owned the account as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, then the grandmother would only be able to access the account if she were claiming some spousal share of her husband, but she would first have to go through a court proceeding to get access to the account.

I am not sure how those accounts are set up in their system. If the primary is the only account owner and the minor has limited rights to withdraw then perhaps the minor isn't really the owner which would mean that ownership would stay with grandpa most likely go back to grandma.

You really need to find out, how the bank classified granddaughter and grandma either as owners or some other way and finally, whether Grandma is claiming her spousal election. The spousal election is the first $75,000 and 1/3 of remaining of grandpa's property.

I hope this helps.

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